Types+of+students

**Myth**: All students in the United States are the same. Reality: There is no typical Americans.  Chinese like to use the phrase “他们美国人都－－”, “Those Americans are all.....” We tend to generalize Americans. As Chinese teachers, we subconsciously do the same to our American students. “American students just don’t study hard enough.” “They just cannot o anything that take a lot of efforts” When we starting doing that, we are limiting ourselves on how much we can teach them and lowering our expectations of our students. When we do that, our thoughts will reflect our physical gestures and our attitude when we interact with them. Students can feel it and sense it, even they cannot pinpoint what it is - they will react to these feelings in their behaviors in classroom.

The United States is a melting pot. Students come from different family backgrounds, have different socioeconomic status, race, and cultures. Each student brings a unique background, set of experiences, and story to the classroom. One of the most important things a teacher must do is develop a relationship with each student. Building that relationship and understanding your students’ background will help you tremendously in both your teaching and classroom management. Understanding each student’s story, developing a relationship with the student and their family, is one key to better understanding students.

Here are some factors that are typically used in describing students. These are important because school improvement efforts and research often use these factors in reporting results and initiatives.

Schools provide free/reduced lunch to families that have an income below a certain level as defined by the federal government. Your school may or may not share a list of students eligible for this service; your school definitely can share the percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch. Check with your school’s office for more information. It’s important to know this information because these students may need more assistance, are often also the students “at-risk” for failing AND you can become a source of encouragement work hard and be successful. Families in this group often do not engage or volunteer with schools, as school is viewed as the “expert” and it is the “school’s job” to educate the child. In addition, the parent(s) may not have been successful in school themselves. Provide consistent communication back to the family of how the child is doing in school.
 * Income **
 * Low SES - free/reduced lunch **

GRACE CALLOUT BOX: In my school, we have a special program designed especially for African American students coming from low income families to help them to go to college for free. Check with your school counselor or social worker for programs available in your area. Work together with the school counselor and encourage students in your classroom to take advantage of programs and opportunities. This helps build a positive relationship with the student and shows the student (and his family) that you care about his success. In addition, you help the student identify goals for his future. This will potentially encourage hat student to work harder and have a focus and purpose in school (and reduce potential behavior problems). Often low income African American students are from broken family with single parents and has very low parental guidance. They may appear to not care about anything because their parents may or may not value educaiton. They, a lot of time, don’t even know if they will have food for that night’s dinner; or they need to watch over their sibling until a parent comes back from work in the middle of the night; or perhaps some may stay up watching TV all night with only a couple hours of sleep; or seeing their neighbor get shot in the apartment, etc. There may be a lot of “baggage” these kids are carrying before they come to school, which will carry on to their interaction with their teachers or peers. When students’ emotional needs are not met, they are not able to focus and be ready to learn. Depending on how your school function, I have allowed my students to go to talk to the counselor as soon as they walk into the classroom before bell rings, so they can deal with their emotional issues first. Once my students know that I care and I want to help, their behavior changes drastically, but it’s still a work in progress. Don’t give up, don’t lower your standards and expectations of their behavior in class - they will learn, but does take time. When teaching about families title in Chinese, it’s hard for these students (and potentially other students too) to relate to the textbook “normal family”. They may have multiples step-siblings, step parents and some don’t even know where their parents are. Be sensitive on this issue and use the 3rd person approach (such as choose a cartoon or celebrity's family) or provide more “family titles” for them to describe (such as “auntie, uncle”)

This group of students are with parents who have steady income, usually at least high school education or higher, and reliable housing. They generally will have more parental support if you have problems with these students, but there may be single parent or several marriages families. When contacting these parents, you want to make sure you find the parent/guardian who is in charge of this student. Having a phone, email or teacher parent’s conference will help improve students behavior tremendously.
 * Middle class **

The parents of this group of students generally have a college education and steady, relatively good income (which mean they have leisure money to spend on more vacations, second homes, or trip overseas). Parents generally care about their children’s achievement in schools and have the expectation of them to go to college. When their children are in the elementary school, parents are typically heavily involved in communicating with teachers and volunteering in schools. But when their children enter middle school, parents’ involvement in schools activity is less, middle school students started to learn how to be independent, and they don’t want their parents to be involved as much in their lives as the students enter the teenage years. Having consistent email contact with parents will help when there are issues you need to deal with, because parents will be already aware of what you have been teaching and doing, and, when dealing with classroom behavior, the parents will be more likely ready to support you.. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Many parents tend to “disappear” when their children are in high school. However parents still appreciate clear and consistent communication. Students are seen as grown up to take care of their own “stuff”. Students in this kind of socioeconomic background are typically more driven, competitive, and compliant. Earning their respect is important in motivating them to do even better.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Privileged/Upper **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">T <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here are different races and ethnic backgrounds in American schools: Hispanic, Jewish, African, Caribbeans, Europeans, Burmese, Vietnamese, etc. Chinese teachers often generalize American students into only 2 categories: Caucasian Americans and African Americans, and if students are from other countries, Chinese teachers will see them all as Hispanic. This is not correct or accurate! Because of Chinese cultural background, we are used to the concept of “everyone is the same”; in contrast, recognizing the individual identity is crucial in the American teaching environment. Encourage these students to share their own language, family tradition, or holiday and helping them to say these things in Chinese when it’s appropriate will give these students a sense of identity and success. For example, when talk about a Chinese holiday, ask these students what special holiday they celebrate and how they celebrate, ask them how they greet each other in their own language during this special event. Comparing cultural celebrations is a great way to build understanding (and is part of the National Standards for Foreign Languages, too).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Race, Ethnicity, and Culture **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Different areas of the country have particular words or phrases. A simple example is “pop”, “soda”, or “Coke” - depending on what part of the country you are in will determine which word you would use to order a soft drink in a restaurant. Depending on the part of country you are teaching in, there is a “local” accents to get use to. On a bigger scale, just like in China, where different parts of the country has different accents, it is the same in the U.S. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In thinking about the classroom, teacher must also be aware of the “language” students use. Students can sometimes appear to have their own sayings and slang. Often, within a school/classroom, students may have “code” words that are often used for them to communicate. Some words can have very negative meaning that will become a classroom disturbance if it is not handled immediately. Consider asking your colleagues about local “slang” words in your school.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Language and Colloquialisms **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stereotyping students because of their race or culture is one of the most hurtful and dangerous things you can do to your students. Stereotype statements include, for example, “American students don’t work as hard as Chinese students”, “African American are all lazy”, “Hispanic students are not very smart”. These statements are generalizations, and are simply not true. If you have not had the opportunity to interact with people from other races and backgrounds, just remember, they really are just like you! Students come from all different kinds of backgrounds and they all have a chance to thrive for success if we have high expectations of them! <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Be mindful of the action that comes across in the classroom due to stereotypes. Often, perhaps unintended, the action may result in unwanted consequences. Don’t let a stereotype drive your interactions with students. ALL students can learn. As the teacher, it is YOUR job to build a relationship with each student, build a positive environment for learning, and provide rich interactive learning experiences.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stereotypes **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Have you ever gone to a store and saw something you liked, but it is labeled “one size fits all”? Well, very often, one size DOES NOT fit all, and if you had purchased that item, you would probably have to modified it once you arrived home.This is very much like teaching and students. There is never a “one size fits all” way to reach the students, as a teacher, it is our responsibility to tailor-size it to their needs. Find out where the students are and meet them there - and create positive learning experiences that build on success.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One size DOES NOT fits ALL **